Terrier soccer team takes it out on Alleghany

Byrd’s Zach Aylor goes high to make a diving save in Friday’s game at Northside. PHOTO BY BRIAN HOFFMAN

The William Byrd boys soccer team celebrated “Senior Night” Tuesday at Patterson Stadium and made it a memorable one. Byrd dominated Alleghany in a 7-0 shutout win.

The Terriers, who are now 2-5, took out some early season frustrations on the Moutaineers. After losing to Northside last Friday, 4-2, on a miserably cold night the Terriers were glad to see both a warm night and a victory.

“It was a good way to head into spring break,” said coach Matt Guilliams. “But like I told the guys, we have to continue this momentum moving forward. Hopefully this is the kind of game that will turn the page for us leading into our spring break practices and final nine regular season games.”

On Tuesday Jake Barker had two early goals, one coming just a minute into the game. Senior Christian Smith followed his lead with two goals of his own, both on set pieces almost identical to each other, getting his head on both. Gavin Simpson had both assists as Byrd took a 4-0 lead into halftime.

Stephen Olsen opened the second half with a goal from the corner, assisted by Jess Settle. It was followed by a third goal for Smith.

“We played a ball through to him,” said Guilliams. “He was behind the defender at the time the ball was played and managed to get around him for a break-away opportunity. The kid’s fast, we love being able to play balls in behind the defense and just let him run onto it.”

Settle scored the final goal. Will Boland assisted both Smith’s third goal as well as Settle’s. Michael Woolfolk had four saves as the Byrd outshot Alleghany, 22-7, in registering the shutout.

“We know we can score, we know we can defend and play with anyone,” said Guilliams. “We just need to have the right mindset every game and continue to play a full 80 minutes each time we’re out there.”